On a Cloudless Day
by Eleanora Rose
Summary: Once upon a time, a young girl wished her brother to the Goblins. After many hardships she won him back, but at the loss of her dreams. Can Jareth prove his love to Sarah?
1. Prelude

Author's Note: This is my first Labyrinth fic. I've been reading Labyrinth fics for about three months now, and I've loved the movie forever, but I really don't know how this is going to turn out. I'm a little nervous, the last time I wrote a fic, it wasn't all that great (at least by my standards), and I was unable to finish it. Okay, enough about me, this is the first chapter, please read and review! And if it sucks, please tell me, I'll take it down and/or try to rework it. Constructive criticism is appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth or any characters, places, ideas, etc., that were mentioned in the film.

Sarah lay on her bed at 4:00 AM, thinking that she should be asleep. Too many things had happened the night before, she could not even consider sleeping. She had wished her baby brother, Toby, to the goblins, and solved the Labyrinth of the Goblin King to get her brother back. In doing so, she had rejected her dreams…not only her dreams, she thought, but him. She had rejected Jareth, the Goblin King.

Jareth confused her. Have you ever had a dream that you can't remember, but you see something later and realize that you've dreamt about it? That is what happened with Jareth. The moment His Majesty had set foot in her brother's bedroom, she had known they had met before. In her dreams. As she thought about it, the song from Sleeping Beauty popped into her head "I know you, I've walked with you once upon a dream…" She smiled a little, wondering if she was insane. Not only did she think she had met a fictional king- the Goblin King, she reminded herself, she had dreamt about him before. And she even believed he had fallen in love with her.

Sarah laughed silently, making a mental note to never again eat three bowls of 'Death by Chocolate' ice cream before bed.

Far from where Sarah lie, in a different kingdom, in a different world, a tall man with wild blond hair gazed at her in a sphere of transparent crystal. His mismatched eyes swirled with emotions, and his brow was knit in concentration. He was still shocked by his defeat. Even more, he was shocked at the victor. Not only had he been beaten, his opponent had been a mortal. A mortal girl. And if that wasn't enough, he had fallen in love with her. How cliché, he thought, to fall in love with the girl who won. The first to do so since the creation of the Labyrinth.

But as he gazed at Sarah's sleeping form, he realized that no woman, human or fae could possibly compare to Sarah. At sixteen, she was no longer a girl, but Jareth didn't know if he could call her a woman- she was too innocent, too unschooled in the ways of her world. She had shown that in her repeated exclamations of "That's not fair!" Yet somehow, this… this… Sarah had beaten his Labyrinth, saved her brother, and wounded his heart.


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Note

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed : Chaimera, Kitana4, lounging-pixie, jazzy021, angelwingz202, and theshadowcat. I was not expecting to get this many reviews, it was so motivating! Thank you all again! A short note about my stories, anything that is in italics is either a dream, a thought, or spoken in mindspeech. Please read and review!

_Sarah stood on a flat, grey plain. A sharp wind rushed around her, whipping her long silver dress against her legs and twisting her brown hair in every direction. Sarah looked around, searching for something familiar. But there was nothing. Just a cold, never-ending horizon. Suddenly she heard a voice._

_"Sarah…" The voice was masculine, with a British accent, and seemed to be coming from all directions at once. Sarah turned around, her eyes scanning the area, looking for the owner of the voice. She saw nothing._

_"Sarah…"_

_"Who are you?" Sarah called, although she already knew the answer. She heard a chuckle in response._

_"Don't ask silly questions. I expected better of you, my dear." His voice was arrogant, taunting. _

_"Jareth, don't play games with me! Where am I?" Sarah called, frustrated. She was freezing, and her hands were numb. Another chuckle. _

_"You seem to like games."_

Sarah woke with a start, her mind still whirling from the dream, her alarm clock beeping in the background. She laid there for a moment, then glanced at her digital clock. The clock read 7:00 am. It took a moment for this information to register, then Sarah jumped out of bed, realizing that she only had forty minutes to get ready for school.

She was in the shower, hurriedly washing her hair, before she woke up enough to remember that her clock was set twenty minutes fast for the purpose of making her think she would be late.

A few minutes later, Sarah yawned as she looked in the mirror at her towel-clad reflection. She was thinking about the dream. It had been six months sine she had run the Labyrinth, her sixteenth birthday had come and gone, and she had changed. Her experiences in the Labyrinth, and her interactions with its King had shown her something she'd never known- she was lonely.

Never before had contact with another person impacted her the way the short time she'd spent with Jareth had. When Sarah had returned, she was more confident and it showed. At school, she had always been considered a loner, a dreamer lost in her world of fairy stories. She began to make an effort to talk to people, and found that she was accepted. The popular girls still talked about her and giggled when she walked past, but she'd found friends. Mira, Catherine and Samantha had gladly added her to their group, and after only a few weeks of spending time with them, she felt like she belonged there.

She had also taken her considerable sewing talents and put them to good use. She was now the chief costume designer for her school's drama department. Sarah loved the feel of the textured fabrics beneath her fingers, and the utter satisfaction and joy that came from turning a few yards of silk into Lady Macbeth's nightdress, or velvet into a gown for Cinderella to wear to the ball.

Despite all of the changes, the quiet dreamer that Sarah used to be was tucked somewhere seep inside her heart. Sometimes Sarah missed her, and often she found herself wondering if she'd been left in the Labyrinth and lived happily ever after as Jareth's Queen. But that didn't explain Sarah's intense desire to see him again, nor her nightly dreams.

A horn blared from the driveway, shaking her from her reverie. Sarah ran out the door and headed off to school like she did everyday, never knowing that someone was watching.

A/N: Please review! The next chapter is nearly finished, but I won't post until this is reviewed. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you to all of my reviewers; Lady of the Labyrinth, BOWIEgirl, Juliya, angelwingz202, lounging-pixie, and theshadowcat. Thank you for your advice, praise, comments, reviews, etc., I am motivated once again. Sorry this took so long!

Far away from Sarah, a man with wild, spiky blonde hair and mismatched eyes stared into a crystal, his jaw slack with surprise. His eyes began to twinkle mischievously, and he slowly closed his mouth, only to open it again as he chuckled. His chuckles turned into laughter, and it took him a few moments to collect himself.

With one last look into the crystal, he shook it, letting silver glitter erase the image within. He tossed the translucent sphere into the air, where it disappeared with a small pop.

She missed him. He couldn't believe it. It had been so long…. Only six months Aboveground, but it had been nearly twelve years in the Labyrinth. A small span of time for one his age, but it had felt like an eternity. So much had happened since she had gone. The war, the re-establishment of the Great Council, his mother's death. The Labyrinth itself had changed. Jareth had been forced to defend it when two of the countries bordering the Goblin Kingdom had attacked. He had not been without aid, of course, but he had used much of his power keeping his subjects safe before his allies had arrived. The conflict had escalated into a war involving all of the Fae kingdoms of the Underground, with many casualties, including Jareth's mother, Queen Serena of the Merpeople.

The Great Fae leaders of the allied kingdoms had come together after four years of fighting, and had agreed to re-establish the Great Council of Fae that had presided over the Underground for eons. The Council had disbanded three thousand years before, at the assassination of Jareth's father, King Kristoph. The Council was made up of the rulers and diplomats from every kingdom and species represented in the Underground, from the dragons, unicorns, fairies, centaurs and merpeople to the immortals, fae and the Great Fae. The Great Fae were the most ancient and powerful beings in the Underground, so powerful that even the mortals Aboveground knew of them, although they were mistakenly referred to as gods.

Lord Soren of the Great Desert had long desired to claim the Labyrinth as his own. As it was the most ancient and powerful area of the Underground, many desired to tame it, but most rulers lacked either the audacity to challenge Jareth or possessed the intelligence to realize they could not defeat him. Soren, however, planned his assault wisely, and struck within days of Sarah's victory, when the Labyrinth was still rebuilding itself. Were it not for Jareth's swift actions, and his allies' rapid responses, Soren may well have gained control. There were, as it has been mentioned, innumerable casualties and many changes rent Underground as a result.

Jareth was interrupted in his reverie by a knock on the door of the library.

"Enter." He called moodily, still lost in his thoughts. A young woman with milk-white skin and hair like fire entered. She was dressed in a silken gown that exactly matched her eyes, which were bluer than cornflowers. She curtsied elegantly, and then went straight to one of the bookshelves and selecting a book. She barely glanced at Jareth before making herself comfortable on a cushioned window seat.

"Lovely to see you too, Rhoslyn. Did you finish all of your lessons?" Jareth commented, startling her out of her novel.

"Sorry, Jar." Rhoslyn said, never tearing her eyes from the page. Jareth quirked an eyebrow.

"And the lessons?"

"It's just this book is so much more interesting than lessons, or talking to you." She said guiltily, glancing at Jareth out of the corner of her eye.

"You know, I could drop you in the Bog for such disrespectful backtalk." Jareth declared with a mock frown.

"Yes, but you won't." Rhoslyn answered impishly. "I'm going to read this someplace where I won't be disturbed by over-protective older brothers."

"Not unless you finish your lessons first." Jareth said, suddenly stern.

"Jareth! I've got all afternoon to finish those!" Rhoslyn exclaimed.

"No, you don't, because the moment you start reading you can't think of anything else."

"Can't I just finish the lessons tomorrow? I'm at the good part!" Rhoslyn whined.

"Rhoslyn, you know as well as I do the importance of those lessons. If you don't learn to control your magik you could hurt someone. Again." Jareth said sternly.

"Why do you have to bring that up? That's not fair!" Rhoslyn looked hurt, but at the words 'That's not fair!' Jareth once again became lost in his memories.

"_It's not fair!" A dark-haired girl cried._

"_You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is."_

"Jareth. Jareth. JARETH." Rhoslyn was standing over him. "Hello? You completely zoned out on me!"

"Rhoslyn, would you refrain from using Aboveground slang? It is unbecoming of royalty." Jareth intoned, annoyed at being interrupted again.

"You sound like Mother! What makes you think you have to parent me all of the time? I can take care of myself!" Rhoslyn cried out, frustrated.

"I promised Mother I would take care of you. That entitles me to 'parent you all of the time', as you so elegantly put it." Jareth was really annoyed. Rhoslyn had a knack for getting on his nerves. They'd never gotten along well to begin with, and since Queen Serena had died Rhoslyn had been nearly impossible to live with.

Rhoslyn just glared at him as she flounced out of the room, her book forgotten.

Jareth sighed heavily, and let his thoughts wander back to Sarah.

A/N: Ok, so it wasn't very good. I know. But it's been so long, and I needed to add in some background information on the Underground. I know my Jareth is kind of a sissy, I'm working on it. He's much more complicated than expected. Please review!


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Once again, it's been a really long time. I wrote this nearly a month ago, but my hard drive crashed, which made it rather hard to post. So, with many more thanks to those who've reviewed, here is Chapter 3.

Sarah sat in English, thumbing idly through her mythology text. She was absolutely bored out of her mind.

_Honestly,_ she thought, _if I'd known I would be forced to spend weeks studying these now, and at a snail's pace, I would never have read them so many years ago! _She smiled as she remembered spending hours at the library as a child, pouring over books of myths and legends that were as large as she was. Her eyes stung a bit when she remembered the day her mother, Linda, had introduced her to the rich tales of King Arthur and his chivalrous knights.

It had been nearly a year since her mother had died, but Sarah was still grieving, although in the past six months or so she'd learned to control that grief. Three years after the divorce, when her father had married Karen, Sarah really hadn't minded her all that much, but in the months following Linda's death, it had seemed like Karen was trying to take Linda's place. Sarah now realized that Karen had been attempting to comfort her. Linda's death was also the root of Sarah's hatred of Toby- she hated that Toby had a mother and didn't have to bear the burden of losing her, however irrational her thoughts were.

Now, six months after her adventure in the Labyrinth, Sarah had once again accepted Karen and stopped begrudging Toby his mother. But with regards to her adventure, Sarah believed it to be a dream, brought upon by stress and grief, as well as an overindulgement in fairy tales and ice cream.

She was still puzzled by her recurring dreams of the Labyrinth. She'd finally 'grown up' and put away all of her fairy stories and toys, and she now spent her time reading trashy romance novels and magazines, like most teenage girls, but still she dreamt of the Labyrinth and its King, nearly every night. Her obsession with a dream King still bothered her a bit, and a part of her, though it was deeply hidden away, still believed in magik and in the reality of Jareth and his Labyrinth. The hopeless romantic in her wanted the tale to be true, especially the lines that read 'For the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl…'. To her, there was no other explanation for her strange dreams.

She was jostled back to reality as the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. As she walked to the student parking lot to meet her ride, she didn't notice the large snowy owl leave a tree by the windows of the English hallway and fly skyward, disappearing in the sun's glare.


End file.
